I Found the Secret to Good Writing

Insomuch as writing is a return,

return always.

My journey to my first book has been emotional, to say the least. Courting Danger will be my first published (fiction) work, but it isn’t the first manuscript I finished. My first was a YA portal fantasy. Let’s call it #firstfantasy. It was the fantasy of my childhood dreams; it was the book I wish I could have read as a sixteen-year-old. When I tried to pursue traditional publishing, I heard it all from about as many people as you can think of: published writers, critique partners, agents, editors.

“It’s good.”

“It’s fine.”

“It needs more of this.”

“It’s ready!”

“It’s not there yet.”

“I love the voice!”

I was in the inaugerating cohort of writers for the WeNeedDiverseBooks Black Writers Revision Workshop (where I got some of the conflicting advice above). I applied to PitchWars in 2021 and got a partial request that ended in a “no thanks.” I was spinning and I had no idea how I was going to stomach revision # 7— and we’re talking about 50-100% story rewrites between 2019 and 2021. I had lost the story’s thread and I had to shelve it.

I never wanted that to happen again. It hasn’t.

So how did I get to A Church Girl’s Guide to Courting Danger? Better yet, how did I find the secret to good writing already? I gave you a big hint in the picture I included with this post. See, though I’m the daughter of a preacher and I love God with all my heart, soul, and mind, I could never figure out how to include faith in my stories without it coming off corny. Plus, I was believing the lies of the enemy that “no one wants to hear about God.” So I tried to write about what people did want to read. And I rewrote #firstfantasy seven times in three years, getting tendonitis in my wrists two years in a row.

Turns out, I had to almost lose the story of my childhood dreams to discover the secret I’d known all along.

My writing comes from my heart, the very center of my being. So I stopped asking myself what I wanted to write and instead meditated on who I am. I love God with all my heart, soul, and mind. My mother and I have a good relationship that we fought really hard for. I’m a daddy’s girl. I always wanted to be closer to my older sister than we are or probably ever will be. That changed things, because while writing fantasy is my first love, I got so caught up in magic systems and worldbuilding that I let the soul of the work slip into others’ hands.

In that picture, I’m at my parents’ house with my teenage bible open to Proverbs 2:7, a verse that the protagonist of Courting Danger has tattooed on her forearm. That photo is the essence of how I write now. Surrounded by the experiences that made me and mobilized by God’s word. Now, I’m about to self-publish a Christian romance— a genre that I swore I’d never write! But when i offered my pen as a ministry, a work for the Lord and for His purpose, what others said became a non-issue and a whole realm of inspiration and confidence opened up to me.

The secret to good writing had grown up with me. It was the friend I always fell back on but never thanked.

It was in the sermons I’d heard, the studies I’d done, the prayers I’d whispered, and the tears I’d cried. The secret to good writing is to find what is enthroned on your heart and who surrounds that throne with you. The Spirit of God dwells within me and my family circles that throne with me, along with dear friends in the body with whom I’ve worked and worshipped.

What or who is enthroned in your heart and with whom do you worship it? Praising that thing in your writing is how you will discover a wellspring of strong prose, because it will come from your very spirit.